McLaren Racing CEO on Valuations, Commercial Partners

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00:00Tell us first about the valuations. Did that stake sale go through? Is that all done?

00:05We're all done. We're all done. So, man, these valuations continue to just fly. I mean,

00:10that's double what it was last time I spoke with you. The sport is on fire. You know,

00:15every metric demand for teams. You know, it wasn't long ago before Liberty acquired the sport and put

00:23a cost cap in place, which kind of insured everyone's financial stability and on track

00:28stability and competitiveness. So it's been a wonderful thing. The fans are coming out in the

00:35tens and hundreds of millions, sponsors, partners in the sport, unlike we've ever seen before. So

00:42the sport is on fire and long may it continue. There's always calls out there when sport

00:46valuations pick up that it's a bubble. Redburns and the Milan owner, for example, has been calling

00:51out sports valuations are in a bubble. How do you think about it? Because you are at the top of your

00:55game right now. You are in serious race to have both the constructors and championship victory,

01:00but also you're going to get regulation changes coming in next year. So have we kind of hit a

01:05ceiling in how high valuations can go? I don't think so. I think if you look at sports in general,

01:10and I wouldn't say I'm an expert at all sports by any means, but they've only been going north

01:15forever. And, you know, every time there's a kind of record deal and whatever sport it is,

01:21everyone goes, oh, that was crazy. And then you look back and in five years, they've still gone

01:25up. So I think our sport in particular has a lot of room for growth. We have 24 races. We have demand

01:32for probably 30 Grand Prix. So the demand is strong. Our car has the best brands in the world,

01:40the MasterCards, the Googles, et cetera. The competition is amazing. Last year, four teams won

01:46seven different drivers, won multiple races. It's the first time I've seen that in my 30 years of

01:50following the sport. So the on track competition is great. The off track drama as captured by Netflix

01:56is fantastic. The demand for Grand Prix has never been stronger. So I think the sport in many ways

02:02is just getting going. You have also, I think, 53 or last I checked earlier this year, 53 commercial

02:09partners, and you've generated the most revenue of any team in F1 history. How do you go about that?

02:17Since you're so focused on cars and racing and you're dealing with Norris and Piastri and you're

02:24focused on aero, like how do you take off the sports hat and put on the business hat?

02:29Well, fortunately, we're a big organization and Andrea Stella has done a wonderful job running our

02:34racing team. So he focuses on the on track performance and I focus on running the business.

02:40And of course, we're about 1,400 people inside McLaren. So it's definitely not the two of us.

02:45We just have our our leadership roles and we're very focused on our partners. We're very focused

02:49on our fans because you need to have every part of your racing team, not just a technical side

02:56operating as we call world championship materials, whether it's your CFO around your cost cap or

03:01your head of HR around culture, which is what's made our team so strong, our commercial team.

03:07Everything has to be firing on all cylinders. Sorry to use the pun.

03:10Yeah, I wish there were more cylinders. Maybe the regulations in 2026. We'll get there. But Zach,

03:17I mean, this is kind of where like the drama bleeds into the sport and the business of the sport,

03:21right? Especially with a more diverse viewership coming in. I know you've been very open in saying

03:26Christian Horner leaving F1 is good for the sport, or at least it's in a healthier place. There have

03:30been rumors that he's going to be able to come back now and maybe will next year. What do you make of

03:34that for the sport if he does come back? I think he's had a stellar career in Formula One. His results

03:40are lots of driver championships, world championships. So I think when you get into sport,

03:46not everyone's best friends. There's different characters. So while we may not have too many

03:52cups of tea in England, as we say, you know, you need all different types of characters in the sport.

03:58And I think that's what makes the sport very exciting. You know, that's that kind of Netflix

04:03effect is what happens off the track. And I think our sport's unique in that not only is the competition

04:10on the field of play extremely exciting, there's a lot of competition off the field of play. And

04:15it's a small group of, you know, team bosses and drivers. So I think the fans can kind of get to

04:20know us all. And yeah, so I've got my friends in pit lane and some that aren't, but I think that's

04:26what makes it exciting. And it's authentic and genuine. It's very fun. I will say that we now

04:32have Gunter Steiner and MotoGP. So my family, we watch the motorcycles and it's awesome to see

04:37Gunter come over from Haas. He's a great personality. He's so much fun. That makes it all the more fun

04:43to follow. Like we've been able to get into that because of the Netflix documentary. Do you think

04:48on balance that's, I mean, is that only good for F1? It's only good. If we look at what

04:55form of the one where we needed to continue to grow the sport, kind of pre-Netflix, pre-Liberty,

05:01it was North America, right? The sport's huge everywhere. But in North America, we had one

05:05race and it was kind of a second tier sport. Now we have three races and it is a major sport

05:11in North America. Tick. Youth, because that's all of our future. And we've brought in a lot of youth

05:17and then women in diversity. So the sport over the last five, six years under Liberty's ownership

05:23is really modernized and become a very inclusive sport versus what was a very exclusive sport.

05:30And you saw it took a little bit of change when Netflix came out. Two teams didn't participate

05:35because it wasn't kind of, we're not going to open our doors. And then when we did and you saw the

05:40fandom that came and the exposure it brought for our sponsors, I think they went, uh-oh,

05:45I think we need to be in this next time. And so it's been wonderful. And I think the sport now

05:50recognizes that without taking care of our fans, we don't have a sport. And I very much

05:55believe sport is entertainment. Anytime you're buying a ticket, whether it's for a movie, a sporting

06:00event, a rock concert, that's entertainment. So we need to put on a good show for our fans.

06:04But it's beyond, it's beyond athletics, right? I mean, because now Lando and Oscar and you,

06:09and you know, you've got to deal with this intrusion into your, almost into your personal life as well.

06:14Um, yeah, but you know what? We're in the public spotlight and that's what, how our sport works.

06:20So if you're not comfortable with that, maybe you should pick a different job. Um, and so I remember

06:26my first ever Grand Prix, 1981 Long Beach Grand Prix. I met my first Formula One driver. I saw the

06:31cars and the impression it left on me. So at McLaren, you know, there's not a photo or an autograph

06:37that we don't stop for, whether it's a driver or myself or Andrea, because you want to leave that

06:42lasting impression that I have from 1981 of, I just, I remember it like it was yesterday and

06:47we've all met athletes over the years that you were a bit disappointed once you met them.

06:51And so therefore, it was a St. Louis Cardinal. I'm a Cardinals guy. Um, but you know, being good 95%

06:58of the time isn't enough because those 5%, you know, it's kind of a heartbreaker. So, you know,

07:05you got to be on your A game all the time and whether it's a restaurant, you can't control when

07:08people see you and they want to talk to you. They're excited. They want to learn about the sport.

07:12I want to, and so, uh, I enjoy it. So you still like going out to restaurants?

07:16A hundred percent. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Zach, we can't let you go with just

07:19asking about the rest of the season because you've essentially got the Constructors

07:22Championship essentially racked up. How much of your attention now is shifting to the drivers

07:27and how much of a threat do you think someone like Verstappen could come up and really threaten,

07:32be it Lando or Osperes? A disruptor. A disruptor, yes. I think you got to pay attention to

07:36the max. Uh, we got to keep doing what we're doing. Uh, the Constructors is looking very good. You know,

07:41we had a chance to wrap it up in Baku, but let's not talk about Baku. Uh, hopefully we can get the

07:46job done in, in Singapore. And what we want to do is we want our two drivers, uh, and, and max,

07:52but we'd like to kind of get them out of there, um, to fight for the championship and just give

07:57them equal opportunity, equal equipment, which is what we're doing and kind of may the best man

08:02win. That's what we want to do. We, we'd like to not play a role if at all possible, but you get into,

08:07you know, Lando had a mechanical and things can happen and safety cars and things of that nature.

08:13But I think our goal is to just set Lando and Oscar up to be competing for the championship

08:18down to Abu Dhabi and may the best driver win.

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